[stephenkhoo]

22 May 2013, Wednesday, 7th Week, Ordinary Time
OUR ATTITUDE TOWARDS THOSE WHO HAVE IMPERFECT FAITH IN CHRIST
SCRIPTURE READINGS: ECCL 4:11-19; MK 9:38-40

Today’s scripture readings challenge us to adopt a positive outlook towards those who have an imperfect faith in Christ.

In the gospel, we have an example of how Jesus dealt with those who have imperfect faith in Him. The gospel tells us of an instance when there were people using His name to work miracles. Of course, the disciples of Jesus were unhappy because they did not belong to their group officially. And thus, they wanted Jesus to forbid them from using His name. The response of Jesus is clear: so long as they are not against us, they are for us.

In other words, while they did not have a real relationship with Him, they were certainly doing good works in His name. Now, Jesus was no leader seeking for popularity and followers. It was not really absolutely essential whether these people were officially His disciples or not. What was important for Jesus was that they were living the Kingdom life. Thus, by doing good works they were implicitly living the gospel values of the Kingdom. This means therefore that they too had accepted Him. If that was the attitude of Jesus towards those who had imperfect faith in Him, then we must ask ourselves what kind of attitude we should adopt towards people of goodwill who profess different religions.

One thing is certain, we must realize that so long as people live in goodwill and seek the truth, they have in their own ways sought for Jesus. This is affirmed in today’s first reading as well. The reading from the book of Sirach tells us that those who seek wisdom will find life. Indeed, it is the lack of wisdom, or in the words of Buddha, ignorance, that causes us misery in life. To be enlightened in the truth is to find life itself. For it is wisdom (which is distinct from knowledge) that sets us free, since wisdom is an existential and total experience of truth.

And of course, as Christians, we know that Jesus as the Logos is considered the Wisdom of God. What was poetically illustrated in the Old Testament as an activity of God, is now seen as incarnated in Jesus Himself. Consequently, all others who seek truth and wisdom indeed have come to know Christ even though it is not explicit.

However, this imperfect faith must also be extended to us even as Christians. The truth is that people come to Jesus for different reasons. People make use of Jesus for their immediate and temporal ends. Some even make use of Jesus to justify their status quo and the established institutions. Such faith in Jesus is surely imperfect as well. These people no less than non-believers, need also to purify their faith.

Hence, for us as Christians, since it is our faith that Christ is Lord and God and therefore also the Wisdom of God, it is necessary that first and foremost, we must seek Him deeper in our own ways. We must search deeper into Christ so that we can share in His wisdom and live an enlightened life of truth and love. We cannot presume that we have reached the fullness of truth yet, even though we know the way which is through Jesus, the truth and the life.

Indeed, our service to people of imperfect faith, be they of other faiths or Christians, presupposes that we ourselves have deepened our own faith in Jesus. Unless we have come to know Him personally, it is impossible to share Jesus with others. However, when we ourselves come to know Him intimately, and share in His vision of life, creation and reality and God, we will also be able to share confidently what we have found in Christ with others. Our task as Christian therefore is to deepen our own faith in Christ first, so that we can lead others, whether Christians or not, to a more perfect faith in Christ explicitly or at least implicitly by living the kingdom life more deeply.